North Korea Sunday slammed a report by Human Rights Watch which said sexual abuse of women was rampant in the isolated nation. In its report released Thursday, the US-based rights group said North Korean police and other officials prey on women with near-total impunity.

HRW drew on interviews with more than 50 North Korean escapees to chronicle gruesome details of rape and other abuses perpetrated by security officers such as border guards, but also civilian officials. In its response Sunday, the North's Korean Association for Human Rights Studies said the "preposterous" report was "a part of political scheme fabricated by the hostile forces ... to tarnish the image of the DPRK", the state Korean Central News Agency reported, using the country's official acronym.